ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb has said that the issue of Indian businessman Sajjan Jindal’s visit to Pakistan was not discussed in the meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
In a statement issued on Friday, the information minister contradicted a news item appeared in a section of media in this regard.
“There was no mention of Sajjan Jindal in meeting between the prime minister and the COAS,” the minister said.
“Jindal is a friend of the prime minister and met him in his personal capacity. The news item that made rounds yesterday is incorrect,” Marriyum Aurangzeb added.
In its report published on Thursday, the BBC Urdu said that the prime minister in his recent meeting with the COAS took him into confidence about his meeting with Sajjan Jindal held last month in Murree.
The BBC Urdu citing senior military officials also said that Nawaz-Jindal meeting had taken place as part of backchannel diplomacy between Pakistan and India as since Sajjan Jindal enjoyed close relationship with both Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi, he was trying to defuse the tension between the two nuclear powers.
